"I can't imagine."

“I can’t imagine.”

I have found myself in these shoes many times. I hear of heartbreak and it seems unfathomable. I shudder and breath a sigh of relief that this tragedy didn’t happen to me before I push it from my mind and hold those around me tighter. I’m not alone in this. No one wants to dwell on tragedy. No one wants to imagine this.

I get it. I feel it too. But “I can’t imagine” has often left me feeling isolated. Far-off. Held out at a distance. Different. Not relatable. Disconnected.

We didn’t want to imagine this either, so now we imagine alone.

Or so it seems.

Isaiah 53:3-4 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”